>> hello, everyone. you're watching cnn. i'm rosemary church. i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and all around the world. our top stories this hour "the interview" and the decision. a christmas day release for the controversial film despite threats from hackers. details on sony's new decision. investiga investors rejoice as a new record is hit on wall street and what's behind that rally. one independent theatre owner calls it the best christmas gift

anyone could give us. sony pictures has decided to let more than 200 u.s. theet theatres show its new comedy "sbert view" starting on christmas day. the studio says that number could grow but so far none of the may chu.s. theatre chains a onboard. >> reporter: ashocking turn of events in the growing sony saga. sony announcing it will roll out the limited theatrical release of "the interview" a comedy about the assassination of kim jong un. sony's about-face coming after a bash lash from celebrities like george clooney and even president obama who criticized the decision to cancel the release. now a growing number of independent theerts announcing they'll be showing the movie. first to announce, the plaza theatre in atlanta. >> i think now they're seeing the right thing to do is to be

bold, go forward and see what happens. it's starting on a small level. i think the larger theatre chains, which are very corporate and cautious are going to eventually see okay, it seems to be working all right and we can make money off this movie and jump on the bandwagon. >> after major movie chains pulled the plug last week, following a threat by the hackers, sony's powerhouse attorney david boyes hinted that the studio was not backing down. >> remember, soewonewony only d this. they're fighting to get this picture distributed. >> james franco 30es posting victory, the people and the president have spoken. and seth rogan tweeting, freedom has prevailed. the ceo says we're excited our movie will be in a number of theatres on christmas day. we are proud to make it available to the public and to have stood up to those who

attempted to suppress free speech. as tensions are heightened between the united states and north korea, which the u.s. blames for the hack, reports that the reclusive country's internet went down at least twice in the past 24 hours and remains spotty according to an internet monitoring company. >> whoever shut it down, and we don't know yet, it doesn't really matter that much because there's only several thousand users in north korea. >> pamela brown, cnn, new york. the alamo draft house and cinema in ashburn, virginia, says some screenings of "the interview" are already sold out. and as you heard, the plaza in atlanta will also be showing the film. >> i don't expect to have a problem, but we would be foolish if we don't take different pru cautions, perhaps a lit bit what somebody could carry into a theatre alone those types of leans. >> and we will have much more on sony's decision to release "the

interview" in the next half-hour, including a look at why the satirical film has made north korea so nervous. well, former u.s. president george h.w. bush is in a texas hospital. his spokesman said bush had shortness of breath and was taken by ambulance to houston methodist hospital as a precaution. bush is 90 years old and served as the nation's 41st president. now, you may recall, he was also hospitalized back in 2012 with bronchitis and recovered after two months. u.s. authorities say they have busted a complex gun smuggling ring that used commercial planes. and now the breach has the busiest airport reviewing its safety procedures. we explain how the operation worked. >> reporter: airport security is already a tedious process. now there are concerns that all that hassle still has dangerous flaws.

>> that's not something you want to hear going on, especially with the current trend of everything that's going on around the globe. it really makes you wonder how safe it is to travel. >> eugene harvey allegedly used his security clearance as a ramp agent for delta toby pass security to get the guns to a former delta employee. mark quentin henry in a restroom, who then carried them onboard to new york. harvey was arrested on saturday. henry was arrested on december 10 after landing at jfk. he had 18 guns in his carry-on bag, seven of them were loaded. both are being represented by the federal public defenders office which has not commented. the brooklyn da said the investigation was part of a

larger effort to get illegal guns off the streets. >> we were determined to get to the source of these gups and our investigation led us down to the state of georgia. >> authorities assured travelers that despite the headline, air travel remains very safe. ''with christmas less than a day away, the united states sex peernsing one of its busiest travel times of the year, but the winner is anything but mes festive. a tornado system is blowing through the southern part of the country. this was the scene in the state of mississippi where four people were killed by storms on tuesday. and in the west, snowstorms have brought down roads. just on the tornadoes, talk to us quickly about how prepared

people are in the southern part of america for tornadoes. radio. >> i think you're as prepared as you can be. >> it is unusual to get tornadoes in december. i think folks are not in a mindset. this is something you get typically in the fall or spring. we're in the christmas season now, but we did have the warnings out and hopefully people got out of the way. obviously we lost four earlier today. it was a disaster for them. it was incredible. this coming on one of the busiest travel weeks of year. people not only trying to get in the car, but getting from a to b. >> this is a map here of all the planes. as live as it can be right now, as we get the data in from all the planes across the united states. even at this late hour here at the eastern seaboard notice this

pocket here of not much happening across the southwest. the severe weather this line of storms that rolled through m ms, that has pushed through the southeast and has moved through atlanta with some damage across as well. tallahassee up through central georgia. they've had a heck of a time there with upwards of seven inches of hateful on the ground. it has been quite a day, but certainly nothing is as bad as this. columbia, mississippi, and laurel, mississippi, as well. i think the same super cells spawning these tornadoes as they thank you down and race from north and east. the national weather service will be out there to let us know exactly what kind of damage we're talking about. at least a 2 in the fujita

scale. 4 1/4 inch hail. florida picks up seven inches occurring in tallahassee as a result of flooding that's under way there. rain pushed off to the north of east. on the backside of it, we have snow that's going to be impacting with chicago. if you're flying anywhere from charlotte all the way up towards boston you're going to likely have delayed. pack your patience. >> hail the size of grapefruit? unbelievable. >> the damage caused would just be extraordinary. always a pleasure, many thanks. >> investors have plenty to celebrate this holiday season.

the 18,000 mark for the first time. it managed to close out the day 24 points above that mark. this. co-s as the u.s. economy grew 5%. the strongest quarter of growth in more than a decade. how about that? let's check reaction in asia pacific markets. nikkei just closed over the 1% mark. hong kong's hang seng was up in half a day of trade. asx also closed early because of the holiday. we're going to take a very short break now. what's causing investor optimism in the u.s. richard quest has the details later this hour.

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protests against racism and police violence continue tuesday despite a plea for new york's mayor for them to stop.

bill de blasio asked protesters to back down until after the funerals of two new york police officers who were ambushed and killed on saturday. but hundreds demonstrated in manhattan tuesday night. when new yorkers are in mourning this holiday over the deaths of those two officer, and that includes the family of the shooter as martin savage reports. >> new york city hall. everything stopped at 2:47 p.m. >> we now bow our heads in memory of officer ramos and officer lu. >> the moment saturday when two new york police officers were shot to death as they sat in their patrol car in brooklyn. after days of angry words and political finger pointing over who beyond the shooter was to blame, today's silence said the most. earlier, mayor bill de blasio paid an unannounced visit to the street memorial on the site where the officers were shot. like to many new yorkers, de

blasio was drawn to an ordinary corner, now turned almost sacred. the family of officer lu spoke, the most powerful words coming from his wife of just two months. >> this is a difficult time for both of our families. but we will stand together and get through this together. >> the family of the gunman is ismaaiyl brinsley, who later took his own life. brinsley's sister said her brother's actions were not revenge, but untreated mental problems. >> eiffel so badly for the family. we give our condolences to the family. >> this has nothing to do with police retaliation. this was an emotionally troubled kid. he needed help, he didn't get it. >> also drawn to the street memorial, the daughter of eric

garner. the death of her father helped spark protest against the nypd, which some say triggered brisley's attack. gasher's daughter says she know what is the officers' families are going through. >> we're not against police. we just want to let everybody know that we support them and we're out here to lay the wreath and light the candles and do a moment of silence for the family. and once again, silence became the loudest tribute. martin savage, cnn, brooklyn. >> in texas, a grand jury has decided not to indict an officer in the death of an unarmed black man after allegedly charging a police officer. the officer claimed baker matched the description of a serial robber and ran away when asked for an i.d.

>> the question the grand jury had to answer was whether there was enough evidence to show the shooting was not objectively reasonable at the moment it occurred as viewed from officer castro's spand point. not whether it could have been avoided, not whether an alternate course of action could or show been taken. some may disagree with this outcome, but after having heard owl of the evidence and having been given the law, a diverse harris county grand jury found that there was no probable cause to believe that a crime was committed. baker's mother says her son was just a college student who did everything right. protesters are calling for a federal investigation. >> 54 are dead in india after after series of deadly attacks. the tribal militants targeted a

rival group on tuesday. the officials say 54 people were killed. india's home minister plans to visit the area today to assess the tension. we turn to australia now where police have arrested two young men as part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation. both are facing terror-related charges. the arrests come a day after australian prime minister tony abbott warned of heightened terrorist chatter since the sidney cafe siege last week. police say there will be extra security in public places over the holidays. and france is also stepping up security. the government is bringing in up to 300 additional soldiers to patrol crowded shopping and tourist areas. barbara starr reports.

of. >> since the sydney attack by a gunman, australia very much on the edge. >> an attack is likely. we don't know when and how an attack may come with the intent and capability ocarry out further attacks. >> reporter: the sydney gunman, the late nest a series of attacks, often by people with violent criminal backgrounds and mental illness. >> we have to consider that isis is almost a magnet for the diluted and the mentally ill to associate themselves. as soon as they put the banner of isis behind it, it has a major repercussions to the gravitas they think their actions are taken. >> security now being increased across france, after three attacks in the past three days. on saturday, a man stabbed, three police officers while allegedly shouting god is great. on sunday, a vehicle rammed into pedestrians, witnesses said the

driver also was shouting god is great. and on monday, a van plowed into shoppers at an outdoor market. the french prime minister warned of a terrorist threat. u.s. officials tell cnn there are no specific homeland threats this holiday season. >> i certainly encourage people to do what you normally do during the holiday season. public awareness, public participation in our efforts. >> and a chilling reminder of a failed christmas day attack. for the first time seen

underwear bomber together in yemen before the attack. iraq and syria provide a safe haven for those terrorists who have vowed to attack the west. >> just in from japan, shinzo abe has been reelectriced by the lore house of parliament. that's according to rueters and ap report. the vote will be followed by an upper house poll, which is expected to have a similar result. >> it may not affect as many people as you think, an internet blackout in north korea. back in a moment. t used source,

how much are co2 emissions reduced? up to 30%? 45%? 60%? the answer is... up to 60% less. and that's a big reason why the u.s. is a world leader in reducing co2 emissions. take the energy quiz -- round 2. energy lives here. ...and let in the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged. find parking space. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] ...that secured the data that directed the turbines that powered the farm that made the milk that went to the store that reminded the man to buy the milk that was poured by the girl who loved the cat. [ meows ] the internet of everything is changing everything. cisco. tomorrow starts here.

what you're doing now, janice. blogging. your blog is just pictures of you in the mirror. it's called a fashion blog, todd. well, i've been helping people save money with progressive's discounts. flo, can you get janice a job? [ laughs ] you should've stuck to softball! i was so much better at softball than janice, dad. where's your wife, todd? vacation. discounts like homeowners', multi-policy --

i got a discount on this ham. i've got the meat sweats. this is good ham, diane. paperless discounts -- give it a rest, flo. all: yeah, flo, give it a rest. >> welcome back. internet woes for north korea. a research company says the company is struggling to stay online for more than 24 hours after an internet blackout. but few in the country may be aware of it. our brian todd explains why. >> as the u.s. an north korea face off over a devastating cyberattack, most north korean citizens are cut off and isolated.

>> if you asked the average citizen about the internet, would they know what you're talking about? >> ordinary people in the country side, the valley, they do not have any idea about what internet is about. >> only the elites have access to the internet. there are just over 1,000 ip addresses in the country. compare to to a mall and a half across the u.s. experts say if you're in north korea and on the internet, it doesn't seem any slower or more primitive. >> it looks the same as the internet you or i might access. the difference there is the north kroreans are good at self-censorship. >> meaning they're good at knowing which sites not to visit. there was an internal system that looks like the internet but isn't. it means bright light. >> it's a domestic internet. it kwn nekts through universities and libraries that mostly carry information from

the government and scientific or tanl data. >> the only way the global internet gets in and out of the country, experts say, is through a single cable routed to servers in china. how does the korean leader use the internet? >> the south korean internet discovered the famous gangnam style was on his website six time times. officials say he was the one who was web surfing to see the site. a. >> analysts say even for north korean elites, having act says to the internet is mixed blessing. they say when top north korean officials go online, every point and click is monitored by the security apparatus. brian todd, cnn, washington.

>> a guilty verdict for a canadian man who killed and dismembered a chinese student in montreal. it took a jury eight days to find luka magnota guilty. he admitted to the crime and posted a video of it online. but he pleaded not guilty on grounds of mental illness. prosecutors say he also e-mailed a british journalist six months before the murder claiming he planned to kill someone and make a movie of it. well, in the spring of 2012, lind's body parts were found in the trash behind an apartment building. prosecutors say he also mailed some of the parts to political parties in ottawa and schools in montreal. >> officials will recommend that gay men who have abstained from sex for one year could donate blood in 2015. now, if approved, this would end a lifetime ban on the group.

officials say evidence shows a change in policy would not create a risk to the nation's blood supply. monaco's royal family is showing off their newest and tien anies edpipgs these are the first photos of royal twins. gabriella and jacques. little jacques is two minutes younger, but under monaco law, he's still next in line for the throne. well, the fbi says north korea is behind the cyberattack on sony. we will see exactly how it was done and why other companies could be vulnerable as well. and another record day on wall street as the dow closes over 18,000 for the first time. what's driving investor optimism. that's coming up.

be a weekender and book weekenour stay at hampton.

more than 200 independent theatres in the u.s. will show the controversial sony comedy "the interview" starting on christmas day. sony pulled the film last week after hackers made threat against theatres. the film is about a fictional plot to assassinate north kree leader kim jong un. police have arrested two men as part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation. both are facing terrorism charges and are expected to appear in court wednesday. the arrests come a day after australian prime minister tony abbott warned of heightened terrorist chatter since the zidane knee cafe siege last week. >> former u.s. president george h.w. bush is in a hospital in texas. his spokesman says bush had shortness of breath, so he was

taken by ambulance as a precaution. push served as the nation's 41st president. >> the fbi blames north korea on the cyberattack that resulted in the release of sensitive e-mails. tom foreman takes us through exactly how the hack attack happened. >> take him out. >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? >> yes. >> what! ? >> this list would be of employees, hackers scrutinized that list for people who work on the targeted company's computer network. sorting outaire relationships with information from facebook and linked in, and even figuring

out which projects they're involved with. alec mcgeorge helps company understand how it works. >> wouns you've got a list of people you think are going to have this level of access, that's who you then target for spear phishing. >> that's when a hacker spends an e-mail to a specific person that seems to be come flg a legitimate colleague. >> i look at it. because it's from someone i know, i open the e-mail. then the subject makes sense so i click on the attachment. and that's critical, right? >> right. so now you're going to a web page that i designed. as you'll notice, as it ren dors here, it's going to look legitimate. >> but that website is installing malicious software and in seconds, the target's computer is under the hacker's control. >> oh, look at that. >> this is -- >> and now my computer is showing up on your computer. you can see exactly what i'm up to. >> exactly right. >> the hacker can read e-mails,

look at projects, reports, budgets, picture, even record your every key stroke. >> so in real time, i see exactly what you're typing on your screen. and this is how we get passwords. >> both the fbi and the experts who we brought in basically said the malware was so sophisticated that 90% of american businesses would have fallen pray to what happened to us. >> and yet, the cost of this hack may ultimately prove much harder to calculate. >> in the end, all of this means it may be impossible for a company to protect themselves against any kind of a nation state attack, simply because nations are too big, too wealthy and have too many people to keep pressing that attack time and again until they break through.

>> many analysts say the hack was sparked by the movie "the interview" which pokes fun at north korean leader kim jong un. but some say it goes deeper on that. >> kim jong un portray himself as a man of the people. a revered leader depicted as inspiring suched a ration, his public cries at the very sight of him. his cyber attack against sony dismissed by the u.s. as a north korean slight by an insecure leader.. i think it says something interesting about north korea that they decided to have the state mount an allout assault on a movie studio because of a satirical movie. >> but those who study kim say it's not just to quash a film that ridicules him, it's also a calculated move to show his people he will hand up to

america. >> we feel he's weak, he's not decisive. so this is another piece of that puzzle for them. it's part of a pattern of testing their leader. and that strikes at the very core of the system. so they are going to respond in a very harsh way. of. >> the film "the interview" portraying his assassination may be a comedy, but their depiction of a irrational leader may attack north korea. >> i think that moment of unpredictability is part of a psych see that kays i'm someone you have to deal with. and believe me, i have

capabilities that despite the fact that we're a maul country have capabilities you have to address. >> inside north korea, the perception the country is locked in a state of war with south korea, the u.s. and its allies allows kim jong un to maintain absolute rule. >> in many ways, they're earning attention from the economic hard hardships people have to live through in north korea, but they're saying militarily we're strong. and we're independent. and nobody is going to mess with us in that regard. so yes, i do agree having that element of external enemy is important for domestic control. >> the u.s. sayis it's still considering its response. officials are being very coy about whether the u.s. was responsible for the latest disruptions in north korea's internet. but whatever measures the u.s. takes, officials say they do expect some kind of counterresponse from kim jong un, in an effort to show he is in control both home and abroad. cnn, washington.

to russia now, and ratings agency standard & poors is weighing a potential downgrade for that country that could push its debt into junk territory. >> russia's currency has plunged to all-time lows, raising concerns the country is headed towards a full-blown financial crisis. s&p says there is a 50% likelihood that russia will be downgraded in the next 90 days. well, meanwhile, new year's eve is still more than a week away, but wall street investors have a reason to pop their corks now. the dow jones average hit a new high tuesday, topping the 18,000 mark for the first time, and it closed out the day just above that record high. >> consider it an early christmas present for the market. the dow jones has crossed 8,000

for the first time. this is the number, this is how it got there, up 1/3 of 1%. up 66 points to 18,025. look at the whole sector. investors are cheering the crucial milestone and 35 record closes for the dow. it came out of the gait higher. in fact, it gave back some of the gain, but by the close of play, it was up some 64 points. but as you'll see, let's look at how the last three months has traded. then we had this dramatic drop in the market in the middle of december. at that point, just about there, it was at 17,000 and change.

so to put this in perspective, the mark has gained the best part of 1,000 points in just under a week, i should say, since december. just so you get an idea. how did we get here? well, it's christmas, so we're going to be suitably festive as we look at how we get here. the quest means business christmas tree. now, time to do a bit of -- welsh the first thing to get towards 18,000, the first thing was gdp, which today came in at 5% on an annualized basis for the third quarter. that number sits very nicely on the tree. then we have the question of jobs. here we have the jobs. 321,000 jobs added in november. pane incidentally, the u.s.

economy has pretty much gained and increased all the job it lost in the recession. one of the big thrusts in pointsis the price of oil, which has fallen 40% to 50%. that has advantages for the oil-producing countries and parts of the u.s. economy, but it certainly is a great benefit to the consumer. is huts more money in the pocket. now, there are some negatives. russia. the problem with putin, the russian economy, all related to the fwaling cost of oil. this is most definitely a negative. then you have emerging markets. they're going to feel the effects of a high e, stronger dollar. that is a negative. we'll put it down here.

all in all, though. number one, the reason why we've reached 18,000. janet yellen, the fed. we have to put janet yellen near the top of the tree. because taking our bobbles, we managed to get all the way to the top and we hit 18,000 on the dow jones industrials. >> he does explain it so well, doesn't he? this was richard quest reporting. it's been ten year since the indian ocean tsunami killed more than 200,000 people. coming up, we check to see if a new warning system is enough to prevent another tragedy. plus, a warning from the united states about the fate of hundreds of priceless ancient historic sites, now threatened by syria's civil war.

>> u.s. and coalition forces launched ten no air strikes in syria and iraq on tuesday. according to cent com, war planes hit six isis targets with an additional air strike. in iraq, officials say there were three air strikes from u.s. and coalition forces.

>> three years of civil war has smashed many of syria's landmarks to dust. these are pictures before the war, showing just some of the 290 cultural heritage sights that have since been damaged. and this is what it looks like now. the united nations is calling for an international effort to protect remaining structures. >> basically this amounts to raising from our collective human kind memory entire portions of our cultural history. >> both sides in the conflict have used ancient fortresses for military bases. syria's armies in the citadel, one of the world's oldest castles. and force jofrs ran that crus e crusader fortress. the army retook it after months of bombardment.

this week marks a decade since one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent memory. the inian ocean tsunami wiped out entire cities, killing hundreds of thousands of people across several countries. that led to a new warning system. how effective it will be in alerting people about the next big one. a massive earthquake triggered a series of giant waves that tore through 14 countries across southeast asia. it left around a quarter of a million people dead or missing. thousands of tourists were killed and 1.7 million people were displaced.

>> when the waves came, there had been no public warning or evacuation. so it took everyone by surprise. the disaster sparked major international action with $13.5 billion splejed in aid and a tsunami alert center in asia. >> before this early warning system, we needed about 30 minutes to an hour. but now we're able to send a warning inless than five minutes. >> alerts are sent out to the public when an earthquake hits. the data. co-s from sensors on the ocean floor. they transmit the details to satellites then to stations on land. >> so far, it's working. but experts say it's an uphill task to maintain the new systems. which are expensive and difficult to deploy or sometimes

damaged or lost at sea. communication between country in the danger zone is also a major challenge. >> there are certainly, you know, issues to be resolved between the different countries. but i think overall, those are -- that's a good constructive dialogue because this is a global problem. and everyone, every country, every member stayed, every one that can sense something, what they can contribute goes to solving the problem. and their disaster of this scale, technology can only do so much. the biggest battle is educating local populations to recognize the signs of a tsunami and be ready to react. >> you're going to feel the ground shake. am i in a tsunami danger zone? if so, maybe i should be getting to high ground. maybe you're going to see that water reseed. >> many of the sur vancouvers from the 2004 tsunami are fully aware of the dangers.

if the challenge now is to pass that on to the new generation. >> and our meteorologist is here with us to talk more about this warning system. you feel this -- i mean, it's certainly an improvement on what was there. you think this was the answer? >> what happened in 2004, we talked about tornadoes last hour, really the equivalent of not having radars in the united states, not knowing wh ena tornado is coming. if you don't know it's coming you can't issue the warnings. let's face it, with a 9.0 earthquake there's going to be significant damage here. so the goal is to save lives and minimize casualties. and they can certainly do that by telling people and getting them out of way. a lot of countries have been doing mock drills. how quickly can we get people

away from the beaches when something like this happens. >> and it's getting the message to the people to react when you feel there's something coming, get out of there. >> no question about it, indeed. >> let me show you these scenes, rosemary. the water is coming up to roofs in some areas. this has just been ongoing other the last several days. there have been water rescues here as well. rain expanded along sri lanka. an area of converging winds this time of year.malaysia, thailand here.

now over a meter of rain here, where the averages are 600 millimeters of hateful. that also produced flooding here. we'll take you to some of the scenes. that tends to be incredible, too, as a result of the water. you'll notice here, we're talking about hateful that's flooding the streets. but we have currents poor that are moving through the rivers and streams. we had one area where they had 11 of 13 districts that were just completely inundated. you couldn't do that, you couldn't get around or walk from place to place. and unfortunately, we have more on the way over the next couple of days. that kind of setup has not let up there at all. >> thanks so much, ivan. always a pleasure to talk to you. >> a television reporter now knows what happens when you find a report in front of a pile of burning drugs.

they can this out. >> behind me is 8 1/2 tons of heroi heroin and narcotics. the middle east correspondent quentin summerville uploaded this clip monday to amuse his online followers. nothing ever seems to disappear from the internet forever. the bbc says the footage was shot four years ago in an undisclosed location. it was reportedly never broadcast. he'll never live that one down. a little boy wanted his grandfather to get christmas off from work, so he enlisted the help of santa claus. >> this is the first time i had a direct intervention from santa claus himself. >> wait till you see the response the boy got back. [ high-pitched ] nailed it! [ normal voice ] you're right, that was really easy.

i know, i told you so. on progressive.com, you can compare our progressive direct rates with our competitors' rates, so shopping is easy. you don't sound like flo. [high-pitched] yeah, i do. [ clears throat ] who you talking to? [ normal voice ] what? what's on your hand? noth-- my wedding ring. [chuckles] symbol of our love and understanding. comparing rates for you. now that's progressive. [ high-pitched ] nailed it! be a weekender and book weekenour stay at hampton.

>> a bell gan pm was pelted with some snack thanks to some protesters. anti-austerity demonstrators shouting slogans pelted the belgian premier with french fries and mayonnaise. he changed his clothes and apologized to the audience for possibly smelling like mayonnai

mayonnaise. well a little boy didn't want his grandfather to have to work on christmas so he wrote a letter to santa and it worked like a charm. >> reporter: >> a lot of things kids request for this holiday season. >> gadgets, clothing, jewelry, you know, gift cards. >> for leo artero's grandson julian, toys or gadgets wshd on the top of his list. >> we always spent christmas together. so this would have been my first christmas kwhout them. >> he had a special request from the management of a hotel. he wrote that my greatest wish is that you talk to my grandfather's boss and ask him if he could give my grandfather christmas day off. and he couldn't let the opportunity to make one request from santa slip by without requesting one more thing. he finished the leather off by saying ps, if you have time and think i earned it, i would also

love an xbox 360. thanks, santa. leo said his daughter saw the note and shared it with him. >> it's touching. being that he's my oldest grandson, i had to do something. >> he shared it with his boss and drafted that memo. santa was on concerned you're having to work on christmas day. your grandchildren are quite upset. i think it would be best if you plan to take the day off and spend with your family. work can wait until after christmas. >> this is the first time i had a direct intervention from santa claus himself. >> the hotel manager even tried to help julian out by asking him, do you know that julian wants an xbox 360? santa is not sure he's ready for such a fancy toy. >> he deserves it, though. he's so sweet. >> love that story. errol barnett will bring you the top stories from around the

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. hey, there, everyone, i'm errol barnett with you for the next two hours on cnn. big welcome for you those tuning in from all around the world. applause for sony after the company announces americans will see "the interview" movie in limited release on christmas day. >> when people are told no they always want to say yes especially when you're told no by someone with nothing to do with the united states. a baggage handler busted for smuggling scores of weapons onto u.s. passenger planes. also, on edge from